Kevin McHale's Last Chance?

The Minnesota Timberwolves are one of the worst teams in the National Basketball Association. Anyone who's seen them knows that goes without saying. Before tonight's game with the Utah Jazz, the Wolves had a 4-15 record, which is four more victories than the Detroit Lions. Clearly, something had to be done.

In cases like this, that 'something' usually means changing coaches. Owner Glen Taylor replaced Randy Wittman with former Minnesota Gopher and Boston Celtics star Kevin McHale. In his former job as vice-president of basketball operations, McHale was responsible for trading Kevin Garnett to the Celtics, and bringing in such household names as Al Jefferson, Kevin Love, Rashard McCants and Randy Foye. Now he has to coach them.

McHale's first game, a 99-96 loss to the Jazz played before the usual sparse audience at the Target Center, was an improvement over the last few games in that the Wolves were actually competitive. But they went back to their old ways, letting Utah score 12 of the game's final 14 points in a come-from-ahead defeat.

It was a significant victory for Jazz coach Jerry Sloan, who celebrated his 20th anniversary with the team. Compared with the rest of the NBA, Sloan is a model of coaching stability.

McHale is the Timberwolves' coach for the rest of the season, and will not be splitting his time with the front office, like he did when he was interim coach in 2005. So this is widely believed to be his last chance to prove that the team he puts on the floor is capable of someday making a playoff run. And someday is not today.